


About the Yule Ball

by Kandakicksass



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Goblet of Fire minor AU, Harry feels bad about the ball, I just had sudden feels, Parvati is a sweet girl
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-03
Updated: 2014-08-03
Packaged: 2018-02-11 13:09:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2069421
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kandakicksass/pseuds/Kandakicksass
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry thinks Parvati deserves an apology.<br/>(He also thinks that she is very, very pretty.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	About the Yule Ball

**Author's Note:**

> I never thought I'd see the day where I'd be writing a F/M fic, because it's for some reason just not something I do very often, but I had to. I had feels.

He shakes himself, then just shakes a little, and quite firmly tells himself to stop being such a coward. She deserves much more than his cowardice and to be honest, he quite thinks he deserves more than the shit night he had at the Yule Ball.

He steps out of the alcove when she walks by and lays a gentle hand on her arm. “Parvati?”

She stops, startled, and whirls to face him. He narrowly avoids being smacked in the face with her long, dark hair. “Harry,” she sighs once she calms down. She doesn’t appear to be too pleased to see him, which isn’t encouraging, but he presses onwards anyway. (He’s not really good at self-preservation, physically or emotionally, it seems.)

“Can I talk to you?” he asks, wincing at the slight desperation to his tone. “Alone, please?” Which is a much more effective method than attempting to wait for her to be alone by chance.

She glances back at Padma and Lavender, the former of which rolls her eyes and gives Lavender a _what-can-you-do_ expression. “All right,” she says finally, hiking her bag over her shoulder and turning to face him. “Where?” He nods toward an empty classroom and she follows him without complaint, but doesn’t look happy about it, still. He’s hoping she’ll come around, but prepares himself for disappointment regardless. “What exactly did you want to talk about, Harry?” she asks expectantly, but it’s not unfriendly. Just tired.

“I wanted to apologize,” he starts off with, and she sighs heavily.

“Harry, if this is about the Yule Ball-“

“It is,” he interrupts, and gives her a look when she goes to cut him off again. “I need to apologize. I treated you awfully, which was not warranted in the slightest. You were a lovely date, and just lovely all around, and I’m a right bastard for treating you the way I did.” He takes a much needed breath, but when he goes to continue, he realizes that she’s giving him this small, sort of sad smile.

“I’m not mad at you, Harry,” she says gently when he makes it clear he’ll let her speak. She glances down at her feet, her smile dropping a bit. “You weren’t that bad, but… I did watch you stare at Cho all night.” She shrugs, but her shoulders droop ever so slightly. “I don’t hold it against you. I get it. She's a very nice girl.”

He doesn’t know what to say, but swallows and tells her, “You’re right. At the ball, I was hung up over Cho, yeah. Which is stupid, really, because she’s way out of my league and so are you, I’m not saying you’re not, of course, but – she likes Cedric. And he’s nice and treats her well.” He pauses, then adds in a quieter tone, “I also might’ve realized that I liked the idea of her more than, you know, her. Which sounds awful, but we’ve already established that I am, so…”

She laughs, sounding a little surprised and unsure of where this is going. “You’re not awful, Harry,” she assures him, rolling her eyes and finally easing up on the confusion and displeasure from earlier. “I think everyone does that at least once. Liking the idea of someone without really knowing them, I mean.” She smiles at him, and the dimples in her cheeks are kind of distracting, but he manages.

“Yes, well, it doesn’t make it right. How I treated you, I mean.” He takes a moment, then asks, “Why did you say yes, then? Was it just because I’m one of the champions, or…” He trails off, knowing she’ll understand where he was going with it.

Indeed she does, and her mouth twitches in sympathy. “Harry. I said yes because I thought you were cute, and because you’re the only boy who asked that didn’t just expect me to say yes, or expect to take me _and_ Padma like he’d be popular for having twin dates.” She brushed a long strand of hair off her shoulder, not meeting his eyes. “You were very polite, and genuine. I knew you weren’t really into it, obviously, but… I was hoping to change your mind? It didn’t really work, but it still wasn’t terrible. You were very nice, just distracted.”

He nods, because he understands what she means. He glances up at her from under his eyelashes. “I was sort of wondering – well, the other reason I asked to talk to you was to ask if I could make it up to you? Maybe?”

Her eyes widen and she stills, watching him in wonder. She didn’t expect that, he’s certain, but her shock makes it difficult to tell how his question is being received. “Are you asking me on a date, Harry?” she asks him, slowly, like she can’t believe it.

He nods, turning his gaze downward because he’s sure she’s going to reject him. It’s no surprise, really, but he’s at least proud of himself for trying.

“Are you really going to be with me, this time, rather than focused on someone else?” is what she says instead, and he looks up at her sharply in disbelief. She’s grinning a little timidly at him, and it dawns on him what she’s saying.

“Yes!” he agrees, overly zealous, then blushes and repeats, “Yes, of course,” in a much milder tone.

Her grin widens. “Next Hogsmeade weekend, then?” she asks, cheeks coloring prettily. “I’ll meet you at the Three Broomsticks for lunch.” She reaches out to let her index finger trace down the back of his hand and he nods, in awe. He had a feeling that if he saw Cho right now, she would pale in the face of Parvati’s delighted expression.

“I’m looking forward to it,” he tells her, honest and probably too eager, but she just laughs lightly and leans in to kiss his cheek.

“As am I. Goodbye, Harry. I’ll see you at dinner?” she says, gesturing for him to follow her to the door. He does, and nods.

“Bye, Parvati,” he tells her, and she pauses, still smiling.

“Do you want to know another reason why I said yes?” He nods, and she leans in, as if telling him a secret. “You always know which of us is me, and which is my sister. Even barely a side glance doesn’t get you confused. You’re the _only_ person who’s never accidentally called me Padma at school.”

He grins at her when he realizes just how much this easily little thing means to her, a little dopily, and she just kisses his cheek again before disappearing down the hall. He smiles to himself, and heads to his next class. Even Snape’s sarcasm can’t ruin his mood.


End file.
